


Part of Your World

by Karasuno Volleygays (ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor)



Series: Sportsfest 2018 [115]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Artist Hitoka, F/F, Mermaid Kiyoko, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-09
Updated: 2018-10-09
Packaged: 2019-07-28 17:22:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16246304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ToBeOrNotToBeAGryffindor/pseuds/Karasuno%20Volleygays
Summary: It’s almost dawn when Hitoka first sees her. Black hair glinting in the vivid rays of the rising sun, her skin is almost pearlescent as she shimmers with the water lingering on her bare skin. Hitoka only comes here to paint, not to spy on naked ladies on the beach, but now that she sees her, Hitoka can’t look away while she wades into the water and doesn't come out. She doesn't see her mystery woman again until she resurfaces with a much different anatomy.





	Part of Your World

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [kiyoyachi](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/423029) by onceakoala. 



> This was written for Sportsfest 2018 remix round.

It’s almost dawn when Hitoka first sees her. Black hair glinting in the vivid rays of the rising sun, her skin is almost pearlescent as she shimmers with the water lingering on her bare skin. Hitoka watches her poke her toes into the water and wriggle them with a joyous smile.

Hitoka only comes here to paint, not to spy on naked ladies on the beach, but now that she sees her, Hitoka can’t look away.

Their eyes meet across the stretch of sand between them, and the woman smiles and waves. Hitoka’s breath catches, and her gaze lingers as the mystery woman wades into the water until she disappears beneath the surface.

Eyes wide with concern, Hitoka drops her bag and easel and sprints across the beach, but she can’t see any sign of the woman, let alone distress. There aren’t even footprints in the sand. _Maybe I imagined it_ , Hitoka muses. After all, it isn’t even six in the morning and her coffee is currently untouched in her thermos.

Brushing off the weird illusion, Hitoka returns to the dock and sets up her gear, ready to capture the blazing glory of a Pacific sunrise chasing away the remnants of the previous night’s full moon.

She returns the next few days to finish her work — landscape images for one of her mother’s clients who advertise travel in the Sendai area — but there is no sign of the mysterious visitor from the first day. Satisfied that her mind is indeed playing tricks on her, Hitoka continues to paint a few more angles of dawn over the water until she has three serviceable images to present.

As she packs up on her last day, Hitoka nearly jumps out of her skin when a familiar head of shining black hair pokes over the edge of the dock. The woman gives her a shy smile and a little wave. “Hello. I’m Kiyoko.”

“You’re real!” Hitoka yelps, reeling back until she drops onto the seat of her pants. “I thought I saw you drown, but no one was there and I couldn’t see anything.”

Kiyoko giggles, ducking her shoulders as she does, and Hitoka’s insides flutter in response. “I’ve been watching you. I see the goodness in your heart, so decided I wanted to meet you.”

Hitoka’s brow knits in confusion until Kiyoko leans back into the water to float, and a long fishtail with glittering bronze-colored scales surfaces. Blinking over and over to assure she isn’t jonesing for coffee again, Hitoka reels when she realizes she isn’t hallucinating. “You’re a mermaid!”

Smiling, Kiyoko lowers her fins and resumes her spot with her arms crossed on the dock. “If that’s what my people are called to you, then I suppose I am.” Her good humor falters, and she looks away. “We’re not supposed to talk to landwalkers, but I know in my heart that you’re different.”

Almost asking why Kiyoko’s kind don’t interact with humans, Hitoka doesn’t need to when she recalls scores of history lessons about ancient culture on the high seas where ‘fake’ mermaids were lashed to the bows of ships as mascots. It never occurred to her until now that those creatures might be real and not a product of some long-dead mythos.

“I won’t strap your body to a boat!” Hitoka squeaks, covering her face at her silly remark. “I can’t believe I said that.”

Kiyoko reaches up and pries a hand from Hitoka’s face. “Then you understand.” Squeezing Hitoka’s hand, she adds, “I would love to see you more often, but I need to know you won’t tell anyone about me. Terrible things happen to my people when they meet the wrong sort of humans.”

It doesn’t take a lot of thought to recognize the truth in those words for just about anything wild or beautiful like Kiyoko. Hitoka nods solemnly. “Never.”

They talk and talk and talk about their lives and their cultures until Hitoka can’t stay any longer without being incredibly late for work, but she leaves with a promise of returning the next morning. Then, however, it will be Saturday and she’ll have all the time in the world.

When she returns, Hitoka wears an ill-used swimsuit under her t-shirt and khaki shorts. She isn’t sure if she’s brave enough to dip into the water alongside Kiyoko but doesn’t want to eliminate the option altogether.

Kiyoko surfaces almost as soon as Hitoka sits on the edge of the dock, stripped down to her swimsuit but keeping her toes just shy of the water. She can feel the cold emanating from it; it can’t be warmer than it is on the surface, after all.

“Good morning, Hitoka.” Kiyoko gives her a shy wave and looks over her attire. “You have less cloth on you today.”

“I, uh —” Hitoka gulps and sputters out a terrible explanation of swimwear before she slaps a hand over her eyes and groans. “Why am I like this?”

Kiyoko’s brow furrows in question. “Like what?”

Hitoka sighs heavily. “Nervous about everything. You’re so nice and I love talking to you, but I’m always afraid I’ll say something stupid or ramble. I do that a lot.” She harrumphs. “I’m doing it right now.”

“Well, I like to hear you talk,” Kiyoko replies. “So, did you want to come into the water?”

Nodding, Hitoka sticks an experimental toe into the ocean and whimpers when the ice-cold of the water bites at her skin. “So cold!”

Kiyoko stills in thought for a moment before extending her hand. “I have an idea. Take my hand.” Unsure how it will help but confident in Kiyoko, Hitoka does just that, and her eyes widen in shock as a tremor of something indescribable races up her arm and through her body. “Now try.”

This time, Hitoka’s toe feels no discernible difference between the warm spring air and the water lapping around it. Beaming, she slips into the water still attached to Kiyoko and drops beneath the surface.

Under the water, she can see _everything_. The bottom is littered with rocks and sand, and small schools of fish swim by her like she isn’t even there. Kiyoko smiles widely at Hitoka’s awe. They push back to the surface so Hitoka can breathe, and she howls, “That was so awesome!”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Kiyoko leans forward and brushes her mouth against Hitoka’s. “The magic will wear off in a few minutes, but I wanted to show you the world the way I see it.”

“Thank you.” Hitoka closes her eyes, mind racing as it replays that whisper-soft kiss over and over. She can’t help but sigh. “Your world is almost as beautiful as you are.” Groaning at her ridiculous words, Hitoka moans, “I can’t believe I said that.”

Kiyoko takes both of Hitoka’s hands and grips them firmly. “I think you’re beautiful, too, Hitoka.”

Breathless, Hitoka absorbs the words while the rest of her responds on its own. They lean forward, Kiyoko’s arms wrapping around her and pulling her close to keep her afloat, and their mouths meld together.

They cling to each other until the chill of northern waters begins to seep into her skin and make her entire skeleton ache from the cold. Shivering, Hitoka has to wrench away to mitigate her discomfort. “I’m sorry!” Teeth starting to chatter, she looks up at the dock and stammers, “I h-have to g-get out.”

“I know.” Kiyoko gives Hitoka a doleful smile before helping her climb back onto the dock. Grateful for Past Hitoka’s astuteness to pack a towel, she bundles herself up, rocking back and forth to work some warmth back into her limbs.

Kiyoko hangs from the edge of the dock and bites her bottom lip. “Are you all right?”

Hitoka nods, still shivering but slowly soaking in the warm May sun so her body can adjust once again. “Thank you,” she says again. “Thank you for letting me be part of your world.”

“You’ll always be a part of my world,” Kiyoko replies, meeting Hitoka’s shocked gaze with resolve. “When the goddess of the night ascends to her throne, I can be part of yours. I’d love to share that with you, Hitoka.”

Brain rapidly scouring for the meaning behind Kiyoko’s words, Hitoka gasps when she figures it out. “The first time I saw you was just at the end of a full moon!” When Kiyoko bobs her head in the affirmative, Hitoka grins, leaning closer to murmur, “You can come out of the water on full moons, right? That’s why I saw you disappear into the water at dawn.”

“That’s right.” Her cheeks turning a charming shade of pink, Kiyoko adds softly, “I’d love to spend the entire night with you.”

Hitoka can’t think of anything she wants more than that, so the date is set. It’s a weekday and she is scheduled to work the following morning if she can’t manage to get the day off, but that doesn’t matter against what she is set to experience.

The days go by with Hitoka visiting the shore at every opportunity, and her calendar has a bright red circle around the date of the next full moon. When that night arrives, Hitoka arrives at the beach with a blanket spread out, an array of snacks for Kiyoko to try, and the prettiest dress she owns hugging her subtle curves with nothing underneath. After all, Kiyoko has never worn a stitch of clothing since the first day they met; it’s only fair to extend the same level of trust.

Once the moon pushes over the horizon, Hitoka watches in awe as Kiyoko emerges, her human limbs long and lean and gorgeous.

Kiyoko sits next to Hitoka on the blanket and smiles. “I’ve never looked forward to my landwalker nights as much as I have this one. Some of us just go around and touch things we don’t see every day and never stray out of sight of the water. Most never even leave the beach.”

Nodding in understanding, Hitoka hums. “It would be dangerous to go too far. What if they can’t get back?”

The depressing topic silences them both, so instead, Hitoka turns her attention to the picnic basket at the edge of the blanket. They plow through the entire assortment, with Kiyoko finding particular enjoyment in the vegetable tempura and onigiri.

After they’re both too stuffed to eat anymore, Hitoka leans back on the blanket and stares at the stars. “I don’t look at the sky enough. In the city, you can’t even see the stars. There’s too much light.” Popping up on her elbow, she adds, “I can always see the moon, though.”

Hitoka pushes to her feet and swallows hard. She carefully tugs down the zipper on the back of her dress and holds her breath as she slides the straps off her shoulders. At Kiyoko’s curious look, she explains, “This is the first time we’ve existed the same way in the same place. I don’t want to hide anything from you.”

“There is no shame in being who you were born to be, Hitoka.” Kiyoko snares Hitoka’s hand in hers and laces their fingers together. “Your body is beautiful because it’s part of you. Why do humans hide behind so much fabric?”

On cue, a brisk breeze skates off the water and Hitoka shivers. “Weather, for one thing. You may adjust to the cold water when it changes during winter, but if we don’t keep warm, we die. We’ll take off our clothes to clean off or pleasure each other. Some of us, though —” She blushes deeply but can’t stop it. “— a lot of us save that part of ourselves for someone we, you know . . . love.”

Kiyoko reddens, as well, but she doesn’t look away from Hitoka. “I think I understand. You showing yourself unclothed to me is an act of love, just like me showing myself to you.”

Hitoka nods and sits back down, slotting herself into Kiyoko’s side while she absorbs the sheer bliss of contact. “Yeah, that’s right.”

However, Kiyoko sits up straight and asks, “So, this act of love, are we doing it right now?”

“No!” Hitoka is beet red, but she plows on. “It’s where we touch each other in places that make us feel good until it feels like there’s nothing else in the world.” Swallowing hard, she asks, “Did you want to try it?”

“As long as it’s with you.”

Her experience limited to a few fumbles with a couple of men and one woman, Hitoka doesn’t have much to go on other than her own intimate knowledge of herself. Yet there is nothing she would rather do than show Kiyoko the best that physical pleasure has to offer, so with every touch and stroke, she shares everything with Kiyoko.

Dawn comes too soon and Hitoka is so, so tired, but she doesn’t want the night to end but it does nonetheless. However, as she wearily drives back to the city so she can sleep the entire day, Hitoka can’t help but see this not as an end, but as a beginning to something new, something secret, something magical.

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my nebulous grasp of mythology.


End file.
